Variability in avian eggshell colour: a comparative study of museum eggshells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The exceptional diversity of coloration found in avian eggshells has long fascinated biologists and inspired a broad range of adaptive hypotheses to explain its evolution. Three main impediments to understanding the variability of eggshell appearance are: (1) the reliable quantification of the variation in eggshell colours; (2) its perception by birds themselves, and (3) its relation to avian phylogeny. Here we use an extensive museum collection to address these problems directly, and to test how diversity in eggshell coloration is distributed among different phylogenetic levels of the class Aves.

Methodology and results

Spectrophotometric data on eggshell coloration were collected from a taxonomically representative sample of 251 bird species to determine the cha

SUBMITTER: Cassey P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2918502 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature